Pornament is Crime #8: Weenie Waving for the Elephant 1987

This intricate painting, "Pornament is Crime #8: Weenie Waving for the Elephant," is by Joyce Kozloff. Just look at that red! I imagine Kozloff, brush in hand, building up these layers of ornamentation, each stroke a tiny act of defiance against the idea that decoration is somehow less than "serious" art. The surface is alive with pattern – a riot of tiny flowers, geometric shapes, and figures that seem to float in and out of the background. The figures lounging at the top feel like fragments of a dream, or maybe memories flickering across the artist's mind as she worked. It's like she’s saying, "Why can't pleasure and beauty be just as important as the big, serious stuff?"